Research Focus Areas

• Medical Anthropology
• Migration
• Health care
• Ageing

Short Biography

Brigitte Möller received her BA degree and MA degree in (medical) anthropology from the University of Amsterdam. Previously she has worked for organizations in the Netherlands where she performed research concerning migrants and health (care). Currently she is working on her PhD-project that focuses on the ways in which differences are translated as culture, by investigating the interactions between first-generation Turkish migrants and the caregivers they meet when the need for care arises.

Dissertation Project

“Translating difference as culture? Care for elderly Turkish migrants in Vienna and Amsterdam”

Supervision: Tatjana Thelen

Immigrants are expected to compose an increasingly large part of the ageing population in Europe. Calls from different points in society are made about creating a higher awareness and sensitivity related to cultural differences among those who need care. Accommodating ‘difference’, such as shared culture of groups, within frameworks of universal legal, political and social rights are a complex matter, which needs a mindful consideration. Nevertheless, ideas about health, illness and appropriate care are clearly differently constructed by different social actors, and therefore the services sector is confronted with an increasing variety of illness interpretations and challenged in its capacity to cope with the diversity of the population. This research project aims to explore the ways in which difference is translated as culture by investigating the interactions between first-generation Turkish migrants and the caregivers they meet when the need for care arises. The location for the research will be in two European contexts: Vienna and Amsterdam. Both cities have a large population of Turkish migrants who first came to the countries as guest workers and are now reaching the ‘old age’. Through ethnographic research in health care settings where encounters between elderly migrants and care providers commence, this project tries to unravel the subtle, complex processes of translation in care.

Conferences and Presentations

• 2021 (originally 2020), presentation: ‘Giving meaning to ‘cultural-sensitive’ elderly care by care-receivers and care-givers in a Dutch hospital’. International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. Conference Zagreb (online): ‘Coming of age on earth: Legacies and next generation anthropology’
• 2018, presentation: ‘Health care for elderly migrants in two European contexts’. German Association for the Study of British Cultures. Conference Dresden: ‘Age matters: Cultural representations and the politics of ageing’
• 2018, poster presentation: ‘Translating difference as culture? Care for elderly Turkish migrants in Vienna and Amsterdam’. Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences. Conference Bratislava: ‘Towards a world for all ages’